This left feels right

I was listening to Eminem’s ‘The way you lie’ on my way to work today and the line ‘as long as this wrong feels right’ carved a smile on my face.  I never really paid any attention to the lyrics because they kinda sound angry. But then again, I wouldn’t know since I’m not really listening.  I just like the song in general, the beat and the melody.

The line lingered in my mind and it reminded me of Bon Jovi’s album called ‘This Left Feels Right’. It’s a great work of art I must add. And that eventually lead me to my natural orientation or physical condition. I’m a leftie.  Not that it’s a big deal but it did make me more conscious of how I handle things with my hands when I was a young boy growing up.

When I was in elementary school, being a leftie was not an ordinary thing.  Kids would stare at me wondering how the hell could I write in that condition. My book was always in a diagonal position at best,  45 degrees north east relative to my chest.  My friends would tilt their heads to read my page, and I would return a smile.

The act of receiving things with the left hand is frowned upon by some of my teachers throughout my schooling years.  Yes, I know it’s right to receive with the right hand but when your left feels right all the time, the concept is not that easy to grasp. The mind tells you one thing but the body is used to the other. I still do it today but hey, I don’t really care.

Eating out was a rare but joyful occasion when I was growing up.  I remember going to the morning market with mom and we would order a bowl of dry noodles each, ‘kolo mee’ to the Sarawakians, for our breakfast.  As I was enjoying my noodles with a pair of chopsticks using my left hand, I noticed several sets of senior eyes watching me at the hawker noodle stall.

“Halo apek! Lu tak pernah tengok olang pakai chopstick guna tangan kiri ah?” were the words never uttered, though I was highly tempted.

I always got confused at the dinner table, especially when there are forks involved. Which hand do I use to hold the spoon again? Because when at home, we usually use spoons only and my left hand does all the work.  Nowadays, I prefer to take both a fork and a spoon. That way, my right hand is forced to handle the spoon and the fork is used to efficiently assist the right hand with the spoon.  Oh but it get’s a little confusing when a knife is involved. But I guess it has been okay till now, since I have never felt like stabbing anyone at the dinner table, yet.

Have you ever been told “Ew, that's disgusting. You’re a leftie…  you must be cleaning yourself in the toilet and feed your  mouth using your left hand…!”

If you’re a leftie, you must have got this retarded remark at some point in your life.  I guess we’ve gotten used to it. Not that it has lead us toward depression or anything like that but it hurts all the same.

Sometimes I am tempted to reply “You stupid bitch. We’re not like you. We don’t program our hands to do certain things automatically and just forget about it and ignore where it’s been.  Here, handle this rat poison and go eat a banana leaf rice with your fingers right after”

If she’s got the brains, she’ll wash her hands thoroughly in between. 


She can also be a he, a bitch as he can be. 

Sorry for the angry tone. But that was fun.

Today I am proud to be a leftie.  Guess what… my boss is a leftie. My heart smiles when I see him sign letters at a horizontal position. This man goes ninety degrees.  My heart sings with joy when he signs my pay check.  Whose doesn’t eh mate?  Some of my dearest friends are also lefties. They too write at a 45 to 90 degrees tilt. There’s even a world Left Handed day, August 13th!

I am not 100% leftie though, probably just 95%.  My environment has forced me to do things with my right hand, especially the new skills I picked up over the years.  I use the scissors, click the mouse and bowl with my right hand.  I admire lefties at the bowling alley.

I use the laptop’s touch pad with my left hand, it feels better that way. I text with my left hand, it’s faster that way.  I answer calls on my left side, it goes with the left hand anyway.  

And guess what, I pose for the camera with my head usually tilted to the left! Seems to me that my left side is heavier. Haha…

Heck, I could go on and on… but I won’t .  It think you, my dear readers  should be left to analyze which hand do you use in your everyday activities, especially the lefties.  And for the righties, you also use your left hand more than you think… like shifting the gear, even if you’re driving a right hand drive vehicle… haha… just kidding. 

But seriously…

Parents around, raised as an orphan

“I hope you won’t get uncomfortable later. My cousin will be accompanied by three of her friends.” I told my friend Malvin, who decided to tag along for my night out with my cousin sister.

“I should be fine. Unless it’s just two of you, and you need to have family private talk time together” he replied as he makes himself comfortable in my car, on our way to Bukit Bintang.

“Nah, it’s just a casual night out.  It’s been a long while since we last saw each other and she’s been nagging me for a night out with her friends.” I told him.

“This cousin of mine is actually my biological sister, the sixth in the family. I'm third. But we had to ‘let her go’ to the more deserving family.  You see, my uncle and aunt, they were married for ten years without offspring.  When they learned that my mother was pregnant with this sister of mine, they asked to have her as their own…”

“Both my parents were strongly against the idea and didn’t even consider the possibilities.  But the repeating dream that my mother had was too disturbing to ignore. She dreamt that an old woman came to her and tried to take her new born child.  She held on with all her might and managed to keep my sister tight in her grasp.  The old woman became very angry and let out a spine chilling curse, “Very well…” said the old woman. “If I can’t have her, neither can you”

“In the end, after intensive consultation with the elders, my parents agreed to let my aunt and uncle raise my sister as their own.” I concluded a brief history of my family tree while driving.

“So how many siblings do you have?” I asked Malvin.

“I’m the only child” he replied.

“Wow. That’s nice. Undivided love and attention from your parents" I suggested.

“Nice? Heheh…” Malvin let out a short chuckle. There was a sense of sadness in his facial expression as he paused for a while.

“I grew up as an orphan.  It wasn’t nice” he explained.

“Your parents…” I tried to guide the conversation, wanting to know more without being too intrusive.

“My grandparents raised me up initially.  When I was very young, my parents had marriage problems.  My mom, she was not a one man woman.  She went out with many men, even after married to my dad. She was not at home most of the time and it was my dad who took care of me.  After a while my dad was unable to manage single parenthood so he asked my grandparents to take care of me.  My parents eventually sought divorce and my mom won custodian rights over me.  Unfortunately, and naturally, she was not fit to be a mother and I continued to be raised by my grandparents.” Malvin started his tale.

“My childhood life was riddled with misery.  Kids at school targeted me because of my broken home.  I was not raised by my parents like everyone else, and my parent’s marriage problem added to the senseless hatred and misunderstanding at school.  Kids at school would wait for me to arrive every morning and rush to beat me up as soon as they saw me.  I stopped going to school after a while. I would travel halfway to school before changing my clothes and spend time away from school. Most of the time I just roamed the streets in my school uniform during school hours. Got caught by the police several times for that. My grandparents realized that they were no longer able to provide me a good childhood due to the constant and unstoppable bullying at school so they sent me to the orphanage.  They wrote a letter to the district office requesting for the transfer and before I knew it, I was at the orphanage.”

“I thought my life would change at the orphanage but it got worse.  We were not taken care of as we were supposed to.  Food was scarce and we sometimes went without anything to eat for dinner. The caretakers there, they stole part of our supplies for their own use.  They even brought large portions of our rations home.”

“Our school pocket money was no better.  We initially received fifty sen each day for tea break at school. After a while we were given meal coupons.  Eventually the coupon system got frozen and we were left with nothing”

“Life at the orphanage was hell.  We were constantly bullied by the care takers.  Even the janitors abused us.  They were lazy so they always told us to do their jobs keeping the orphanage clean.  We were beaten up if we ever tried to object or complain. They were getting paid for not doing their job. Do you know the broom stick?” Malvin asked me.

“Yeah, I know…” I replied.

“I got beaten up with a broom stick several times at the orphanage! Sometimes the broom stick breaks!”

“Wait, you mean the wooden broom stick? Not the bamboo ones right?” I asked.

“Yeah, the wooden ones break against my head!” Malvin confirmed, his hand firm on his head.

“Sometimes the caretakers beat us up with their shoes. You know, the male shoes, with wooden heels. Those heels occasionally land on our heads!” Malvin added.

I was dumb founded.

“Gosh! You had a terrible childhood. I cannot begin to imagine how it was like.  And to be where you are now is just amazing.  Do you know that you could have easily died anytime between then and now? Your life totally ruined by all this treachery? But instead, here you are now, working as a radiographer tutor at a government health institution. How are your friends doing now? Are they as tough as you are?” I asked him.

To be continued…

Online Buyers with PayPal Scam, beware!

A friend of mine, Diane (not her real name) recently posted a sale notice for her car up on www.mudah.my out of curiosity, since she was planning to sell the car anyway.  Not long after that she got a response from someone who claims to be interested to purchase.  She did not pay attention initially because she thought it was just out of curiosity as well.  As the same person came knocking a few times so she thought she give it a go.

The buyer told her that he would make payment through PayPal and Diane agreed because she already has a verified account with PayPal.  He asked for her PayPal account e-mail and she gladly furnished it.  The price she put for the car was RM35,000.00 and there was no negotiation or haggling from the buyer. And the best thing was he didn’t mind not being  able to view the car because he claims to be out at sea in Bermuda.  Before she knew it, the buyer had already initiated the transfer to her PayPal account and swiftly got an e-mail from PayPal telling her that RM35,000 plus a shipment cost of RM4,000 was in transit, pending further instruction on completing the transaction. 

Wow. What a generous buyer.  No haggling and still cared to pay for the shipment cost.  He won’t  even view the car!

The next mail from PayPal told her to make use of the RM4,000 and pay it to the designated courier company in order for them to collect the car from her.  The only problem is that the money is still in transit.  This ultimately means that she would have to use her own money first to pay the courier company upfront so they can collect the car and verify that the transaction is genuine and Diane can get her RM35,000.00 for the car sold.

Diane was troubled by this predicament and asked around in facebook if anyone has experience with PayPal transactions. 

I responded “I have a PayPal account but never used.  Care to donate? I’ll give you a link”

Soon I got a call from Diane and she told me her story.  I told her this whole scene smells fishy and asked her to forward me all the e-mails so I could study the matter further.

Here are the e-mails from the buyer and PayPal;
***********************************************************

Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2010 20:58:54 -0800
Subject: Re: GEN2.
From: johnsonmichiel2010 at gmail dot com
To: diane********

Hello

  how i wish to come and view what am buying from you.but am currently out of state....i'm a marine engineer who's on a ship right now at Bermuda......I would want you to know that i will be paying via PayPal and i would pay the paypal transfer charges too...due to the distance as i'm in Bermuda presently...I want you to provide me with the following information for me to proceed with the Payment...

Name

Your PayPal e-Mail Address :

Amount

I would like you to know that after i make the payment i would tell my Private Courier Service to come and pick it up at your address once you receive the payment into your PayPal account.

Have a nice day.

************************************************

Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2010 09:39:32 +0800
Subject: Notification of Instant AUTOMOBILE Payment Received from Mr Johnson Michiel(Transaction ID: 4WR6072127779652U)
From: service@europe-paypal.com
To: diane******

Nov,9  2010 Transaction ID: 4WR6072127779652U

Hello Diane*******,

This email confirms that you have received an Instant payment of 39,000.00 RM from Mr Johnson Michiel(johnsonmichiel2010 at gmail dot com) via PayPal AUTOMOBILE Payment Service.

Reversals : This method of payment can not be reversed.

Status : Pending - Transport Company Awaiting Payment.

View the "NOTE" of this pending transaction below

Payment Details

Amount:		35,000.00           RM
Agent Charges: Taxes and Insurance: Total:		4,000.00           RM         ---  39,000.00            RM
Transaction:		4WR6072127779652U
Quantity:		1
AUTO Title:		Gen 2

  

Transport Company: " GP COURIER EXPRESS " Name:LAW AI LAN. ACCOUNT NUMBER: 326-015278-025 NAME OF BANK: HSBC BANK. Address Status: Confirmed

NOTE:  This is to confirm to you that the said amount has been successfully transferred by the Sender and been deducted from his Bank Account which is ready to be credited into your account, been that this Payment has been subjected to be a Payment for an AUTOMOBILE purchased from you, we reserve the right to make sure this transaction is safe and secured also to verify the legitimacy level on this transaction because of the high sum of funds involved.

The above sum has Included the transport charges and taxes as we and the Transport Company quoted for the buyer (as per PayPal AUTOMOBILE PAYMENT POLICY). You will receive a Message from the PayPal Customer Verification Department Shortly informing you on how to send the Transport fares and taxes to the transport company with the above details as soon as possible.

You may contact PayPal customer service by Clicking Here or reply directly to this email by using the reply button in your Mail Box and Quote the Above Transaction ID for quick recognition of this transaction.

Sincerely,

The PayPal Team. 

PayPal Email ID PP307

************************************************

Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2010 09:45:46 +0800
Subject: Important Information on how to complete your recent transaction (Transaction ID: 4WR6072127779652U)
From: service@europe-paypal.com
To: diane********

 Dear Diane*************

      You have received a PayPal Payment of 39,000.00 RM from Mr Johnson Michiel (johnsonmichiel2010 at gmail dot com).

We've placed a temporary hold on the funds of this transaction

As mentioned in the receipt of Payment and as per New PayPal Payment policy, we have fully debited the total amount (above) from the buyer's account which included the Transport/Delivery Charges (GP Courier Service). 

In order to complete this transaction and get the funds approved in your account. We advice you go to nearest Bank Point, and send the excess sum of  4,000.00 RM to the Transport Agent and send us a Scanned Copy/Photograph of your Bank Receipt (in .JPG Format).

NOTE: This is important as a security measure to ensure safety of this transaction.

Please, find below the name and address of the Transport Agent where the Funds would be sent via HSBC.

Transport Company: " GP COURIER SERVICE "                                          Name on Bank Account:LAW AI LAN.                                          ACCOUNT NUMBER: 326-015278-025                                          NAME OF BANK: HSBC BANK

Your Account will be credited accordingly upon the receipt of payment requested. Should be sent in JPG format.

You may contact PayPal customer service by Clicking Here or reply to this message directly using the reply button in your email to submit the required information and include either transaction ID or reference number (PP307) quick recognition of this transaction.


Sincerely,

The PayPal Team

PayPal Email ID PP307

Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2010 09:50:20 +0800
Subject: Payment Have Been Made
From: johnsonmichiel2010 at gmail dot com
To: diane********

Hello,

I have just completed the Payment of the car and i am sure you have received the confirmation from PayPal regarding the Payment, you can check your e-mail for confirmation of payment.I want you to send me your address so that the pick up can be arranged, the car would be picked up by the shipping Company which I've been using for a while and they're very reliable.I made an extra payment 4,000 RM and i am sure you noticed that,You'll have to send the extra amount to the Shipping Company through bank deposit as soon as possible, so that they can come ahead for the pick up and also you should send the necessary bank deposit Payment Information to PayPal for verification so that they can release the money to your asap. I will need you to send the excess fund to my pick up agent Headquarters where they normally confirm any commission payment to bank. Here is the info needed to send the money through their bank account.

Name on Bank Account: LAW AI LAN

ACCOUNT NUMBER: 326015278025

NAME OF BANK: HSBC BANK

I would like you to send me your full contact for the pick-up, You should send the money soon so that the Pick Up would be scheduled and you would know when the Pick Up would commence. Make sure you're home. So just make sure you send the extra amount to the Shipping Company asap so that you can get your money immediately.

It's Nice Doing Business With You.

Get to mail me back soon with your address. 

***************************************************

Now it doesn’t take a commercial crime investigator to smell the scam.

I asked if she logged in to her PayPal account to monitor any transactions and she said there was nothing shown throughout her account.  No transaction whatsoever.  I told her if there was any suspension of any amount, it will definitely be shown in the account details.  I also told her to monitor her account for the next few days to see if there are any incoming or pending payment and transactions.

After all is said and done, I told her to ignore everything else after this and get on with life. It seems that they are only interested to speed up the shipping process which involves RM4000.  Not the condition of the car, not the value of the sale and not even the RM35,000 that has changed hands despite the fact that it is invisible. 

“If the buyer insists that his money has been deducted and demands for a refund, just tell him that there is nothing shown in your account, therefore there is no proof of any transaction, only e-mail conversations, which are as good as verbal rubbish. Tell him that unless you see RM35,000 floating in your account, you're not doing anything. Period!  Check all e-mail you’ve received from PayPal and pay attention to the address.  I don’t think I’ve ever received any mail from Europe-Paypal. Heck I can also tell you that I have transferred RM4000 to your account and demand that you give me back; if you haven’t seen the transaction it means that the transfer is pending, so use your money first la… boleh?” I told her.

FYI, www.europe-paypal.com is not even a complete website…. Please lah…

There are so many ways for people to cheat these days and RM4000 is a lot of money. Not four, not forty nor four hundred.

“If he keeps harassing you, just report the case to the police.  They would have enough lead based on the valid bank account and name to start an investigation” I told her.

“If you are curious and adventurous enough, and think it’s worth your time, do ask for the Courier agent’s phone number and dig for more information”  I added.

And she did.  She got the agent’s number and called her. She asked for the agent’s address and she asked back “Why?”

Diane told her RM4000 is a lot of money and she wants to hand it to her personally, therefore she wants an office address. Guess what the agent said; their office is in Seremban. And Diane said “Well and good! I know Seremban like the back of my hand!

The agent paused for a long while, then told Diane that she would e-mail the address soon… but till now Diane got nothing.

“I guess they know I know…” Diane updated me.

Museum of Ethnic Art, Central Market

I was showing friends around KL on the 4th of July when I discovered this Museum of Ethnic Arts by Art House Galery, owned by Leonard Yiu. It is located at the Annexe building of Central Market. One simply has to go all the way to the end of Central Market to end up at this unmistakable point of interest.  As with anything full of character and delightfully intriguing, one angle is never enough of a view.  That's my excuse for this motherload of pictures.  Enjoy.

Borneo Tribal Masks and Totems.

There are all sorts of ethnic artefacts from the Asian region as well.

Interesting and wearable earpieces.

All kind of beadworks.

Keris collections.

Leonard and Me.

Centuries old sape.

Care to cover your penis with these?

Quite touchable...

Sing little birdie, sing!

Caught this little birdie singing in the rain.

Glassroom detention

Poor boy...

He seems to be enjoying it.  I guess it's okay.